On the eve of his Giants debut last night in a preseason game against the Chiefs, Eli Manning sounded comfortable with his surroundings. Why not? After all, he could have been a member of the Chargers.

One of the reasons Manning prior to the NFL Draft stated he wouldn’t play in San Diego if the Chargers drafted him was that he considered the organization to be unstable. Now that QB Philip Rivers is unsigned and a holdout amid bitter contract negotiations with the Chargers, there’s more evidence Manning is thrilled to be in New York and not in San Diego.

“I knew it was the right decision when I made it, whatever happened down the road I wasn’t going to look back and have any regrets about it,” Manning said of the power play that orchestrated the trade to the Giants.

“You don’t like for anybody to hold out and I know he doesn’t want to be going through this, in that way I feel for him. I’m happy to be here; I’m not happy it’s worked out that way because I do like Philip. I’m not like smiling inside and saying, ‘Yeah, that’s why I did this.’ It’s nothing like that.”

*

The Giants saw some familiar faces last night. The Giants decided not to pursue Chris Bober, their starting center, in free agency, and Bober hooked on with Kansas City to be their new starting right tackle. The Chiefs, though, on draft day traded for former Eagles lineman John Welbourn and he’s Kansas City’s right tackle. Bober is listed as the backup at right tackle and center.

Former Giants punter Rodney Williams is trying to unseat Jason Baker with the Chiefs.

*

Figure TE Jeremy Shockey will be on the field and participating in practice when the Giants return to the University at Albany on Saturday.

“I imagine next week they’re gonna let the reins off and let me do what I want to do,” said Shockey, who had a screw inserted into his right foot on June 22 and worked in his first practice this past Wednesday.

*

Tom Coughlin was 19-14 in the preseason with the Jaguars and he said he believes it’s valuable to win these summer games. Not at all costs, though.

“You’re going to set up an order on which the people will play and your objective is to win,” Coughlin said. “But you’re not going to sacrifice the order in which they play to win.”

*

QB Kurt Warner started last night’s game. His previous NFL start was at Giants Stadium in last year’s season opener, a 23-13 Giants victory over the Rams in which Warner was sacked six times, fumbled six times and suffered a concussion.

“I have to expect it will be more pleasant than that,” Warner said of this start.